2016-08-17

RIO DE JANEIRO – The Latest on the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro (all times local):

6:15 p.m.

Lukas Klosertmann scored in the ninth minute and Nils Peterson added a goal in the 89th to put Germany into the Olympic gold-medal match with a 2-0 semifinal victory over Nigeria on Wednesday.

The Germans will play Brazil on Saturday at legendary Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The stadium was the site of the German senior team’s World Cup victory in 2014.

Brazil defeated Honduras 6-0 earlier in the day at Maracana to put the hosts in the final. Neymar scored a pair of goals.

Nigeria will face Honduras in the bronze medal match Saturday in Belo Horizonte.

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6:10 p.m.

China’s dominance at the diving pool shows no signs of waning.

Si Yajie and Ren Qian went 1-2 in the preliminaries of women’s 10-meter platform Wednesday, setting themselves up to challenge for China’s sixth diving gold medal of the Rio Olympics.

Si scored no lower than 76.50 in any of the five rounds and posted the top score of 397.45 points. Ren was a bit off on her third dive but still claimed the second spot at 385.80.

No one else was even close. Jessica Parratto of the United States was third at 346.80.

The top 18 moved on to Thursday’s semifinals.

Reigning world champion Kim Kuk Hyang of North Korea won’t be one of them. She stunningly failed to advance out of the preliminaries, badly botching her fourth dive and finishing 25th out of 28 divers with just 263.20.

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6:10 p.m.

As Serbia’s Tijana Bogdanovic prepared to fight against a two-time Olympic taekwondo champion, she relied on one rather unorthodox training aide: YouTube.

In one of the most surprisingly one-sided fights of the taekwondo competition at the Rio Olympics, Bogdanovic easily eliminated China’s Jingyu Wu in the quarterfinals Wednesday. Wu won the Olympic title at the Beijing and London games and also holds a world championship silver medal.

After the fight, Bogdanovic described Wu as a “legend” and her idol. Bogdanovic said she learned Wu’s style by studying her fights online and prepped for the challenge with her sparring partner in Serbia.

Bogdanovic, ranked eighth, is a European taekwondo champion and next faces South Korea’s Sohui Kim in the women’s 49-kilogram division final Wednesday evening.

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5:55 p.m.

Kenyan steeplechase great Ezekiel Kemboi has been disqualified in his last race, losing the bronze medal he won Wednesday before he announced his retirement.

A jury decision says Kemboi stepped off the track after clearing a water jump during the 3,000-meter steeplechase final at the Olympic Stadium.

The decision was made after a protest by the French team, and France’s Mahiedine Mekhissi was awarded the bronze after finishing fourth.

Kemboi, the two-time Olympic champion, came in third behind protege and compatriot Conseslus Kiproto and American Evan Jager.

Kemboi said after the race that it was his last, ending a career that included Olympic titles in Athens in 2004 and London in 2012, and four straight world titles from 2009-15.

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5:50 p.m.

MEDAL ALERT: Eri Tosaka won gold in the 48-kilogram division of the women’s wrestling tournament, giving Japan its eighth Olympic gold in women’s freestyle with a last-second takedown.

Tosaka stunned Azerbaijan’s Mariya Stadnik 3-2 for her fourth consecutive world title.

Down to her final shot, Tosaka got a hold of Stadnik’s leg with five seconds left for a two-point takedown and an improbable win.

Stadnik took silver for the second Olympics in a row.

China’s Yanan Sun won bronze with a 10-0 blowout that lasted less than a period. Bulgaria’s Elitsa Atanasova Yankkova also took third

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5:40 p.m.

Tony Parker has said au revoir to France’s national team.

The star point guard for the San Antonio Spurs said following a 92-67 loss to Spain on Wednesday that he is retiring from international competition.

The 34-year-old has played in France’s program for nearly half his life and said it’s difficult to say goodbye.

Despite all his accomplishments in the NBA, Parker – the leading scorer in the EuroBasket tournament – had limited success as an international player. France didn’t qualify for the 2004 Athens Games or the 2008 Beijing Games and finished sixth in London four years ago.

France won its only Olympic medal – a silver – in 2000 when Parker wasn’t on the team.

He says he has “a lot of great memories. A lot of tough memories, but that’s sports.”

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5:20

Olivier Gers has been hired as the new CEO of track and field’s world governing body.

The IAAF says the 46-year-old Frenchman brings more than 20 years of commercial, marketing and media experience to the federation.

He currently is global president of LiquidThread, a division of Publicis Media Group, in Britain.

The appointment comes with the IAAF trying to rebuild credibility after a series of corruption and doping scandals.

Gers says the IAAF is “a multimillion-dollar business that needs to stay relevant, build its fan base and re-establish trust.”

He starts the new job Oct. 1.

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5:10 p.m.

MEDAL ALERT: Daniyar Yeleussinov defeated Uzbekistan’s Shakhram Giyasov and became the fourth straight boxer from Kazakhstan to win the Olympic welterweight gold medal.

Yeleussinov never seem affected by a vicious cut suffered in his semifinal bout that stopped the fight and gave him the win on points. He used some sharp lefts to rattle Giyasov and won 29-28 on all three scorecards.

Kazakhstan boxers Serik Sapiyev and Bakhyt Sarsekbayev won the last three welterweight gold medals.

Giyasov had defeated a London gold medalist during an upset run through the tournament to reach the final.

Yeleussinov finished seventh at the 2012 London Games.

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5 p.m.

Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand is the first 18-hole leader in the history of women’s golf in the Olympics.

Jutanugarn had a little bit of everything on her scorecard Wednesday and wound up with a 6-under 65 for a one-shot lead over seven-time major champion Inbee Park and Seiyoung Kim, both of South Korea.

This is the first time for women’s golf to be in the Olympics since the Paris Games in 1900, and back then it was only a nine-hole competition.

Park was playing top competition for the first time in two months because of a thumb injury. She was bogey-free in her round of 66.

Lydia Ko, the No. 1 player in women’s golf, holed out from 135 yards on the 15th hole for eagle. She shot 69 and was four shots back.

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4:40 p.m.

The medal races in the women’s and men’s 470 classes of the Rio Olympics sailing regatta have been postponed because of lack of steady wind on the Sugarloaf Course off Flamengo Beach.

The Wednesday races were rescheduled for Thursday, which is the final day of the regatta. Medal races are also scheduled in the men’s 49er and women’s 49erFX skiff classes.

Britain’s Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark have already clinched the women’s 470 gold and need only to sail the medal race to collect it. Five teams have a chance at the silver and bronze, including Annie Haeger and Briana Provancha of the United States.

The men’s medals are up for grabs.

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4:40 p.m.

Understanding the qualifying rules in canoeing can be complicated, even for race officials.

On Wednesday, they got things mixed up when they sent Czech paddler Martin Fuksa through to the final in the men’s 200-meter canoe singles instead of defending Olympic champion Yuriy Cheban of Ukraine.

The rules say the eight final slots are awarded to the top two finishers in each of the three semifinals, plus the two third-placed finishers with the fastest times.

But race officials misinterpreted their own rules, giving the last slot to Fuksa, even though he was fourth in the first semifinal. Fuksa had a faster time than Cheban, but the Ukrainian placed third in the third semifinal and should have advanced to the final Thursday.

Officials eventually realized their mistake and revised the list of finalists, replacing Fuksa with Cheban.

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3:50 p.m.

The reigning BMX world champions have earned the top Olympic seeds after finishing first in their respective qualifying runs on Wednesday in Rio.

France’s Joris Daudet was first on the men’s side after finishing the roughly quarter-mile course in 34.617 seconds. He’s followed by David Graf of Switzerland and Sam Willoughby of Australia.

The men race next on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

In the women’s draw, Mariana Pajon of Colombia took the top seed with a time of 34.508 seconds. Pajon will be followed by Caroline Buchanan of Australia and Laura Smulders of the Netherlands.

The women next race on Friday.

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3:50 p.m.

The reigning BMX world champions have earned the top Olympic seeds after finishing first in their respective qualifying runs on Wednesday in Rio.

France’s Joris Daudet was first on the men’s side after finishing the roughly quarter-mile course in 34.617 seconds. He’s followed by David Graf of Switzerland and Sam Willoughby of Australia.

The men race next on Thursday in the quarterfinals.

In the women’s draw, Mariana Pajon of Colombia took the top seed with a time of 34.508 seconds. Pajon will be followed by Caroline Buchanan of Australia and Laura Smulders of the Netherlands.

The women next race on Friday.

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3:50 p.m.

China’s Jingyu Wu, a double Olympic defending champion, has been eliminated from gold medal contention at the Rio Games in the women’s taekwondo 49-kilogram division.

Wu was definitively beaten 17-17 by Serbia’s Tijana Bogdanovic in their quarterfinal bout Wednesday afternoon. Bogdanovic took an early lead within minutes of the fight beginning by landing a head shot and never relinquished the lead.

Wu took the gold medal at the Beijing and London Olympics and was looking to become the first taekwondo athlete in history to win three titles. She won a silver at last year’s world championships and dominated her division at most of the Grand Prix competitions in 2015.

Bogdanovic is ranked eighth and will next face Mexico’s Adilene Itzel Manjarrez Bastidas in the semifinals later Wednesday.

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3:30 p.m.

The U.S. men’s volleyball team is on to the Rio semifinals, beating Poland in straight sets Wednesday for a fourth straight victory since a surprising 0-2 Olympic start.

The fifth-ranked Americans topped second-ranked Poland 25-23, 25-22 25-20, building some serious momentum at Maracanazinho arena after dropping their initial two matches to Canada and Italy.

Now, both the U.S. men’s and women’s teams are on to the final four of the Rio de Janeiro Games. The men will take on the winner of Italy-Iran on Friday, while the women face Serbia on Thursday.

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2:55 p.m.

Neymar scored the fastest goal in Olympic history then added a penalty kick in stoppage time and Brazil went on to beat Honduras 6-0 for a spot in the gold-medal match in Rio de Janeiro.

Brazil has never won Olympic gold in the sport. They’ll face the winner of Wednesday’s late match between Germany and Nigeria in Sao Paulo.

Neymar scored in the first 15 seconds of the semifinal at Rio’s historic Maracana Stadium but collided with Honduran goalkeeper Luis Lopez on the goal. He lay on the field for several minutes, then staggered after getting up and was stretchered off.

The near-capacity crowd at Maracana was stunned into quiet for a time, before breaking into song to encourage its superstar, who returned quickly.

Gabriel Jesus added to the drama with a pair of goals in the 26th and 35th minutes for Brazil. Marquinhos scored in the 51st minute.

Luan added a goal in the 79th minute before Neymar’s penalty kick in the first minute of stoppage time.

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2:55 p.m.

Inbee Park was flawless in a round of 5-under 66 to take the early lead as women’s golf returned to the Olympics for the first time since 1900.

Park felt more nervous than usual for a couple of reasons. South Korea is the dominant nation in women’s golf and the Olympics is so big at home there is a talk of a podium sweep at Olympic Golf Course. Plus, she has not played against top competition for two months because of thumb injury.

But in warm, windy conditions, Park looked every bit the player who has won seven majors and who earlier this year qualified for the Hall of Fame. Not only did she play without a bogey, she shot 66 despite missing six birdie chances of 10 feet or under.

Lydia Ko was at 1 under through 12 holes. Lexi Thompson was the low American so far at 68.

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2:55 p.m.

Defending gold medalist Mariana Pajon of Colombia will be the top seed in the BMX cycling women’s semifinals after a recording a top time of 34.508 seconds in the qualifying runs.

She got loud cheers from fans in the stands after rounding the roughly quarter mile-long course on a hot, sunny Wednesday afternoon.

Pajon finished .244 seconds ahead of second-place Caroline Buchanan from Australia. Laura Smulders of the Netherlands will be the third seed.

The women’s semifinals are Friday. The men’s seeding runs were starting later Wednesday afternoon.

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2:55 p.m.

Sue Bird has a knee capsule sprain and the U.S. women’s basketball team’s point guard and captain is day-to-day.

An MRI Wednesday showed the sprain, which was good news to Bird.

Bird said in a statement through USA Basketball that, “Obviously I felt a huge relief.” She added the hardest part was waiting and not knowing and was incredibly relieved to get the news.

The 35-year-old was hurt with 6:33 left in the second quarter of Tuesday night’s 110-64 win over Japan in the quarterfinals. She sat out the second half of the game.

The four-time Olympian told The Associated Press after the game that she heard a “pop” in the knee. She has had issues with her left knee, but this is the first injury to her right knee.

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2:55 p.m.

Olympic gold medal boxer Claressa Shields has won her first bout of the Rio Games and will fight for another medal.

Shields unexpectedly dominated the first Olympic women’s boxing tournament in London and won the gold medal. She controlled Russian fighter Iaroslava Iakushina from the opening bell and won a unanimous decision in a middleweight bout.

Shields, a fearsome puncher from Flint, Michigan, about knocked the headgear off Iakushina with a shot in the fourth round. She swept the scorecards 39-37, 40-36, 40-36. She walked outside the ring and craned her neck to check out the scores on the videoboard.

She saw something a little different on the screen – her name was spelled “Claresa” and has been spelled incorrectly on bout sheets this week.

Shields hasn’t lost a fight since London, winning two world championships and a Pan-American Games title.

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2:30 p.m.

Patrick Hickey has decided to “step aside temporarily” as an IOC member and from all other Olympic positions following his arrest in a ticket scalping investigation.

Ireland’s national Olympic committee said Wednesday Hickey is stepping down “until the matter is fully resolved.”

Hickey was taken to a hospital Wednesday after police came to his beachfront hotel to arrest him. He is accused of plotting with at least nine others to illegally sell tickets for the Rio Olympics.

Hickey also is stepping aside as head of the Olympic Council of Ireland, president of the European Olympic Committees and vice president of the Association of National Olympic Committees.

The Irish body says in a statement that Hickey will continue to cooperate with the investigation.

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2:20 p.m.

MEDAL ALERT: Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir of Indonesia have taken gold in badminton mixed doubles against Chan Peng Soon and Goh Liu Ying of Malaysia.

Ahmad and Natsir got to Wednesday’s gold medal match in Rio by beating Olympic champions Zhang Nan and Zhao Yunlei of China. Chan and Goh earlier defeated London silver medalists Xu Chen and Ma Jin of China.

On Friday, the meeting of China’s Lin Dan and Malaysia’s Lee Chong Wei in the Olympic semifinals is a much-awaited rematch of the last two Olympic finals, which saw Lin beat Lee for gold.

Lee is top-ranked and has cruised through the tournament, while Lin faced a major struggle Wednesday in his win over Srikanth Kidambi of India.

Despite Lin’s win, the tournament has been marked by the surprise crumbling of China’s Olympic dominance in badminton.

China swept all five gold medals at the 2012 London Games; that will not happen at the Rio Games.

London silver medalist Wang Yihan of China was upset and some once dominant Chinese doubles and mixed doubles teams also won’t be playing for gold.

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2:10 p.m.

Arianna Garibotti and Italy have advanced to the women’s water polo final with a 12-9 victory over Russia.

Garibotti pumped in five goals and Roberta Bianconi scored twice as Italy improved to a perfect 5-0 in Rio de Janeiro. Italy won the gold medal in 2004, but slipped to sixth in Beijing and finished seventh in London four years ago.

Italy coach Fabio Conti says reaching the final is a “dream.”

Evgeniya Ivanova and Ekaterina Lisunova each scored two goals for Russia, which was a surprise 12-10 winner against Spain in the quarterfinals.

Italy awaits the winner of Wednesday’s second semifinal between Hungary and the United States.

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1:55 p.m.

Ellen Hoog’s goal in a shootout lifted the Netherlands past Germany on Wednesday and into the women’s field hockey final.

The score was tied at 1-all at the end of regulation, then the Netherlands won the shootout 4-3. Dutch goalie Joyce Sombroek had four saves in the shootout.

The Netherlands will try to become the first women’s team to win three consecutive gold medals. The Dutch will play New Zealand or Britain in the final on Friday.

Germany’s Lisa Schutze opened the scoring in the first period. The Netherlands’ Maartje Paumen converted a penalty corner in the second to even the score.

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1:55 p.m.

Neymar scored in the first 15 seconds for the fastest goal in men’s Olympic history and Brazil led Honduras 3-0 at the half of their semifinal at Rio’s historic Maracana Stadium.

Neymar collided with Honduran goalkeeper Luis Lopez on the goal, and lay on the field grimacing for several moments before trying to stand. Struggling after several steps, he collapsed again and was stretchered off the field and attended to before being able to return.

The near-capacity crowd at Maracana was stunned into quiet for a time, before breaking into song to encourage its superstar.

Gabriel Jesus added to the drama with a pair of goals in the half for Brazil, which is seeking its first-ever gold medal in Olympic soccer.

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1:45 p.m.

Japanese wrestler Kaori Icho is now just one win away from becoming the first woman to win an individual gold medal in four straight Olympics.

Icho throttled Azerbaijan’s Yuliya Ratkevich 10-0 to reach the finals at 58 kilograms. She’ll face Russian Valeriia Koblova Zholobova in hopes of clinching her 14th world title.

Azerbaijan’s Mariya Stadnik, the top-ranked wrestler at 48 kilograms, pinned Elitsa Atanasova Yankova of Bulgaria to reach the finals. Stadnik’s reward will be a matchup with three-time world champion Eri Tosaka of Japan.

Sara Dosho rallied late in her semifinal match against Sweden’s Jenny Fransson, ensuring all three of Japan’s wrestlers reached the finals. Dosho will face fourth-ranked Natalia Vorobeva of Russia.

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1:30 p.m.

The U.S. State Department is encouraging cooperation with Brazilian authorities on their investigation into reports by U.S. swimmers Ryan Lochte, Jimmy Feigen and two others that they were robbed during the Olympics.

The office of a Brazilian judge confirmed in a Wednesday statement that the judge had issued an order that the passports of Lochte and Feigen be seized and that the swimmers stay in Brazil as authorities investigate. Lochte’s father tells The Associated Press that his son had returned to the U.S. before the order was issued.

The State Department says it has seen the reports of the order and encourages “all parties to work with Brazilian law enforcement,” referring further questions to those involved.

Lochte, Feigen and two of their teammates say they were robbed at gunpoint in a taxi Sunday morning as they returned to the athletes village from a party, several hours after the last Olympic swimming events were held.

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1:25 p.m.

Neymar scored just 15 seconds into the game as Brazil took an early lead over Honduras in the semifinals of the men’s Olympic soccer tournament.

It was the fastest goal ever scored in the men’s Olympic tournament.

Neymar stole the ball on Wednesday from Honduras defender Johnny Palacios just outside the area and scored after a shot that was blocked by the goalkeeper and bounced off the striker’s leg before going into the net.

The Brazilian star fell hard on ground in the play and appeared to have trouble breathing. He was attended for a few minutes on the pitch and eventually was carried off the field on a stretcher before being able to return.

Gabriel Jesus scored in the 25th minute, giving Brazil a 2-0 lead.

Brazil is seeking its first Olympic gold medal in soccer.

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1:15 p.m.

The father of American swimmer Ryan Lochte says his gold medal-winning son arrived back in the United States before a Brazilian judge ordered that Lochte and swimming teammate Jimmy Feigen stay in Brazil as authorities investigate their claim they were robbed during the Olympics.

Steve Lochte told The Associated Press on Wednesday by phone from his Florida home that his son called him Tuesday after arriving in the United States.

The office of Judge Keyla Blank confirmed the order to seize the passports of Lochte and Feigan in a Wednesday statement.

Lochte and three of his teammates say they were robbed at gunpoint in a taxi Sunday morning as they returned to the athletes village from a party, several hours after the last Olympic swimming events were held.

Police have found little evidence so far to support their accounts. Lochte’s attorney, Jeff Ostrow, has said there is no question the robbery happened.

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